# Math Help - A Trig Application

1. ## A Trig Application

I have this question to do for my next class:

A gutter is to be made from a metal sheet of width 3 metres by bending up one third of the sheet on each side through an angle θ. How should the θ be chosen so that the gutter will carry the maximum amount of water?

This is what I pictured it to be:

However, after that, I can't figure out where to start.

Could someone help me out? A full solution would be very much appreciated.

2. I wish I could show you a drawing, but here goes:

\ | | /
\|___|/

The angle sides and the bottom are all of length one. We want to maximize area which we can split into three parts:

Triangular cross sectional areas on the sides of the gutter, and the middle square c-s area. For some angle, $\theta$, the height is $cos(\theta)$ and the top "length" is $sin(\theta)$. The area of such triangle is $0.5sin(\theta)cos(\theta)$. The area of the square is $sin(\theta)$. Add up the areas to get:

$sin(\theta)cos(\theta)+sin(\theta)$

To maximize the area, we need to take the derivative w.r.t. theta and set it equal to zero.

$cos^2(\theta)-sin^2(\theta)-sin(\theta) = 0$

$\theta=\frac{\pi}{6}$

3. Oh. So would that be the angle formed in the triangle cross sectional area?

Am I looking for the angle of that entire angle though? So would my final answer be 2pi/3?

4. Originally Posted by ty2391
Oh. So would that be the angle formed in the triangle cross sectional area?

Am I looking for the angle of that entire angle though? So would my final answer be 2pi/3?
Yes, that angle is for the triangle, so you are right that you would have to add $\frac{\pi}{2}$ to get an angle of: $\frac{2\pi}{3}$.